`You were twice as likely to get a job at BBC Salford if you were from London'

Out of 15,238 people from Manchester and Salford who applied for jobs at the BBC's new base at MediaCityUK, 154 got jobs, which is only 1%.

The figures are revealed today by The Guardian newspaper's Northerner Blog following a Freedom of Information request. The Northerner also reveals that, proportionately, people from London who applied to the BBC were more likely to be taken on than those from Manchester or Salford.

Update 17th Jan: The MEN today reveals that only 16 people from Salford got a full time job at the BBC.

It's really confusing but, following a Freedom of Information request by The Guardian's Northerner Blog, the first official details of jobs at the BBC's new base at Salford's MediaCityUK have been revealed today.

Overall, nationally, 66,657 registered at the BBC's online jobs bank for a total of 238 vacancies. And 529 people got jobs - but that includes externally advertised vacancies as well as the online jobs bank. The figures are all mixed up.

However, out of 15,238 people who applied from the Manchester postcode, which includes Salford, only 154 got jobs, which is 1.01%. Meanwhile, 209 people from the London postcodes who applied got jobs at Salford, a figure of 2.29%. In other words, you were twice as likely to get a job at BBC Salford if you were from London. These figures exclude people already working for the BBC who got relocated from Oxford Road and London.

The BBC didn't provide any figures for those people from Salford who applied and got jobs at the BBC. The Salford Star is intending to put another Freedom of Information request into the BBC asking for this information *

Whatever the outcome, the initial jobs figures seem to fly in the face of original official statements stating that thousands of new jobs will be created at MediaCityUK. The Learning and Skills Council, for instance, stated that "the move of the BBC to Salford Quays, and the mediacity:uk developments are estimated to bring 15,000 new jobs to the city…"

With the biggest tenant, the BBC, now in place a mere 529 new jobs have been created, with only 154 of those jobs shared between both Manchester and Salford people….

…That's not many jobs for the millions of pounds of public money being pumped into both the BBC and MediaCityUK. In a few months, for example, Salford Council will be writing out a cheque for £3million to the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra as this year's instalment of its £20million sponsorship - at a time when elderly people's day care centres and welfare rights services in the city are having Council funding withdrawn…

* UPDATE 17th January -The Manchester Evening News have beat us to it and today show that only 24 people from Salford got jobs at the BBC - and of those 24, eight were on six month ambassador contracts on £3.64 and £4.92 an hour (see here). In other words, only 16 people from Salford actually got a real job at the BBC. See here

For the full details of the BBC jobs see today's Guardian Northerner Blog – click here

Also see Guardian journalist Sarah Hartley's blog for the original data – click here…

UPDATE 18th January - How The Public Paid For Peel Holdings MediaCityUK - click here

Gissa Job wroteat 3:32:03 PM on Sunday, May 13, 2012

Starseed . Lucky you. You must have an extremely limited associaton with your work colleagues. Over THREE THOUSAND Salford people applied for jobs . SIXTEEN were successful in securing employment . Does not bode well for the future , does it ? With the vast amounts of SALFORD COUNCIL TAXPAYERS MONEY wasted in subsidising this Mediacity bullshit , the inept council cretins should have in place a guaranteed minimum intake from Salford in order to justify the massive amounts of OUR money 'invested'. Instead all we got was the usual shite - spouting from Spicer, Merry and the rest of the Ineptitude Gang about 'jobs for Salford '. COMPLETE AND UTTER CRAP .

Rachael Walker wroteat 2:57:04 PM on Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Winston- Thanks for responding, I didn't think anyone would so I haven't checked the forum recently! I haven't done a survey but my email is rach_walker123@live.co.uk if you want to email me and I shall reply with some questions.

Winston Smith wroteat 5:38:00 AM on Thursday, January 19, 2012

Rachael - if it helps you, I'll answer a few short questions but I'd rather not post my personal email address on a public foruum. Have you got an online survey or something?

Sir Bobby Peel wroteat 12:37:13 AM on Thursday, January 19, 2012

#### Sir Bobby Peel's Top Tips ####
Don't want to move your firm from London to Salford media city but still want a Manchester postcode so you can bid for all that creative film TV and radio work?
Buy a virtual office for only £100 a month and tick all the boxes you need to get you hands on the filthy Northern lucre.
Job done - southern money flowing south once again.

Rachael Walker wroteat 2:45:22 PM on Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Would any of the people who have left comments on here be willing to answer some short questions to a student who desperately needs some research on how media city and the regeneration of the Quays has or has not benefitted the people of Salford? All your views here are well thought out so I'd really value your first hand opinions!

Winston Smith wroteat 9:37:12 AM on Tuesday, January 17, 2012

It feels weird, but I'm going to go against my standard cynicism and suggest a more positive view: 1) I would expect most of the 15000 proposed jobs to be indirect (e.g. via Salford businesses supplying goods and services to BBC etc). 2) Even 'just' 500 new jobs paying an average of £20k means £10 million extra pounds per annum coming into Salford, a lot of which can *potentially* be spent on local accommodation, goods, services, bars, restaurants, whatever and thus benefitting the local economy. 3) I would guess that existing BBC employees that were at risk of redundancy, because of the move, have been given preference - it's not unusual for public organisations to try to look after their existing staff, they'd be slagged off a lot more if they didn't. This north/south employee count thing will balance out in time.

Salford Star wroteat 11:07:31 PM on Monday, January 16, 2012

See Milton comment below...Yep, def did the maths upside down - we stand to be corrected and have changed it. We'll never get a job at the BBC now! Thanks Milt.

Milton Grimshaw wroteat 10:55:54 PM on Monday, January 16, 2012

Just a slight correction on your maths the figure of 0.98% is incorrect it is roughly 1.011%, so saying it is less than 1% is not factually true; I think you did your maths upside down. ;-)
OK the figures are near as damn it similar, but lets not give anyone bullets to say you got it wrong.

Starseed wroteat 10:55:38 PM on Monday, January 16, 2012

I got a great paying job at the BBC at MediaCityUk. I'm born, bred, educated and live in Salford. Everyone I speak is from Salford or Manchester. Or am I only speaking to the 0.98%?